Born January 14, 1936 in Tulsa, Oklahoma, Jerry Reese Jackson has worked as a show producer, director, costume designer, choreographer, lyricist, and composer. In Las Vegas, Nevada, Jackson is best known for his work on the Folies-Bergère at the Tropicana Hotel and Casino where he served as artistic director, choreographer, and later as costume designer for nearly thirty-five years, beginning in 1975 and ending with the show's closure in 2009.

Mahalia Jackson was an American gospel singer. Although her career was mainly centered around being a gospel singer, she was also known as a civil rights activist.

Jackson was born on October 26, 1911 in New Orleans, Louisiana to her father and mother Charity Clark. She moved to Chicago, Illinois when she was twenty years old. She married Isaac Hockenhull in 1936 and later married Sigmond Galloway in 1964.